Struggling with 2003 Camry update

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That forum got out of hand, I was banned for a month, and I posted a lot of Toyota Nation.

In the meantime, the oil pan drain plug got messed up, I changed the pan myself and did it successfully, just with a u joint and 1/4drive ratchet and a 6 inch 1/4 drive extension, it wasn't that bad and a utility knife. I struggled with it but that was amongst the easiest of the reapirs.

i did the water pump/serp belt over christmas break, took several days, and struggled, but I got to it successfully.

The ball joint, I did but was confused about the locknut, the nylon locknut, so I got another ball joint (will defect out the one I bought), the moog from advanced auto, and will redo the ball joint procesure this weekend, the toyota dealer I had it inspected at yesterday said the ball joint nut isn't on there propertly, messsing up the ball joint, and therefore needs to be redone. thanksfully, i have aanother ball joint.

As for the taurus, the caliper was still leaking after being remanned, the caliper place, quality caliper, claimed it was the hose, I went back there like 3 times, in like 1 month. I just gave up, and decided to buy a remanned advanced auto carquest wearever for 70.99, but I used speedperks and got it for 50.99 new brakcet and all. I got that a few days ago and plan to install it on the taurus this weekend.

i also got a dealership brake hose, wanted 20.45 for it, I negotiated and got it for 12 dollars becasue though it's new, it says it was manufactured in 2013, and I said it was old and they guy just gave it to me.

I'll install the new caliper and new brake hose (will save the old brake hose just in case) and will see how things go and after this weekend, hopefully all my car issues will be resolved.

I saw the leak coming from the spring part of the caliper, how'd i know if it was the caliper or the hose? hopefully this new equipment I bought will work, I'll turn the old caliper which i had remanned in to get the core back, so i basically wasted 35 dollars on remanning it, as well as the many trips I took there which is far away from where I live.

And I never was trolling, hopefully I'll be all set for now, but I plan to do the taurus serp belt when the weather is better this spring as well as its spark plugs, and then I'll figure out the timing chain leak for the camry, as well as the trans leak. The dealer inspection also noticed the trans case leak but said it's no big deal. a shop wnats 1300 to do it, to reseal it, he said no rebuild necessary.

i did a drain and fill when I did my ball joint job on the trans fluid, to see if that'd help, but it's still leaking, so i'm thinking about changing the filter and gasket and droopping the pan next time, but there are 3 bolts that are hard to get to, so i'm not too sure how to do that as of now, but i've solved the major problems, then i'll continue to work on more issues as the weather gets better.

The dealership didnt' mention struts, but would it hurt if I were to change the struts? when doing the ball joints, i accidentally figured out how to do the struts, essentially by removing the steering knuckle (unnecessary) but not sure about the rears yet, then i'll do an alignment after the struts.

my front tires alre going bad though they're not too terribly old, but by rears are still alright, apparently when you touch the tie rods, you change the alignment, not sure about that, but I did see the outer tie rod when I worked on the ball joint.

Still, i'm confused about the nylon locknut and hope to succeed this time, I heard you dont' press it in but you can use a jack to push the ball joint in, and then instsall the nut and you shoudl be good, I might have crossthreaded the nut is what the parts store people believed.
 
Check Youtube for videos on how to do what you want to do, if you have not done so.

Most balljoint have castle nut and cotter pin.
You have to take out cotter pin before you can move the nut.
There is not much space since there is the axle boots above it so somebody in Youtube uses a modified wrench that he grind to make it a little thinner to slip between the boot and the ball joint nut.

If there is a Harbor Freight nearby, get some of their cheap wrenches so you can modify it without costing too much.

Yes, the tie rod will mess up alignment if you move the nuts.
 
If you did all of that that you are saying, good for you. That experience alone should be now enough for you to do the rest of the repairs.

Frankly, you have repaired lot more than I have ever done or even tried but I don't consider myself to be ignorant on the repair process itself.

There is no reason for you to now ask stupid questions anymore. Only ask if you are genuinely stuck or can not figure out.

And for Gods Sake stay on single train of thought!
 
As I said, the moog came with a nylon locknut, I have a new moog, and need to reinstall and defect out my current ball joint which I messed up, but it's a nylon, how do I work with that? I'm thinking about cutting the old ball joit off and the nut off. I heard you can remove the nut with a nut splitter but h freight doesn't sell that.
 
The thing about ball joints is when their shanks get yanked in good n tight, they hold, don't spin, and the slight friction of a nyloc nut is no big deal.

If you accidentally get it spinning inside the knuckle, you have to somehow jam the shank back in. If it's a junk joint, hammer upwards/tightwards. You can also jack it up, somewhat compressing the strut spring.

If you have a new nyloc nut on a new joint and it's spinning before seating, get a regular nut to drive down "real tight" to pull the shank in then remove it and put the nylon one on.
 
Originally Posted By: engineer20
That forum got out of hand, I was banned for a month, and I posted a lot of Toyota Nation

In the meantime, the oil pan drain plug got messed up, I changed the pan myself and did it successfully, just with a u joint and 1/4drive ratchet and a 6 inch 1/4 drive extension, it wasn't that bad and a utility knife. I struggled with it but that was amongst the easiest of the reapirs.

i did the water pump/serp belt over christmas break, took several days, and struggled, but I got to it successfully.

The ball joint, I did but was confused about the locknut, the nylon locknut, so I got another ball joint (will defect out the one I bought), the moog from advanced auto, and will redo the ball joint procesure this weekend, the toyota dealer I had it inspected at yesterday said the ball joint nut isn't on there propertly, messsing up the ball joint, and therefore needs to be redone. thanksfully, i have aanother ball joint.

As for the taurus, the caliper was still leaking after being remanned, the caliper place, quality caliper, claimed it was the hose, I went back there like 3 times, in like 1 month. I just gave up, and decided to buy a remanned advanced auto carquest wearever for 70.99, but I used speedperks and got it for 50.99 new brakcet and all. I got that a few days ago and plan to install it on the taurus this weekend.

i also got a dealership brake hose, wanted 20.45 for it, I negotiated and got it for 12 dollars becasue though it's new, it says it was manufactured in 2013, and I said it was old and they guy just gave it to me.

I'll install the new caliper and new brake hose (will save the old brake hose just in case) and will see how things go and after this weekend, hopefully all my car issues will be resolved.

I saw the leak coming from the spring part of the caliper, how'd i know if it was the caliper or the hose? hopefully this new equipment I bought will work, I'll turn the old caliper which i had remanned in to get the core back, so i basically wasted 35 dollars on remanning it, as well as the many trips I took there which is far away from where I live.

And I never was trolling, hopefully I'll be all set for now, but I plan to do the taurus serp belt when the weather is better this spring as well as its spark plugs, and then I'll figure out the timing chain leak for the camry, as well as the trans leak. The dealer inspection also noticed the trans case leak but said it's no big deal. a shop wnats 1300 to do it, to reseal it, he said no rebuild necessary.

i did a drain and fill when I did my ball joint job on the trans fluid, to see if that'd help, but it's still leaking, so i'm thinking about changing the filter and gasket and droopping the pan next time, but there are 3 bolts that are hard to get to, so i'm not too sure how to do that as of now, but i've solved the major problems, then i'll continue to work on more issues as the weather gets better.

The dealership didnt' mention struts, but would it hurt if I were to change the struts? when doing the ball joints, i accidentally figured out how to do the struts, essentially by removing the steering knuckle (unnecessary) but not sure about the rears yet, then i'll do an alignment after the struts.

my front tires alre going bad though they're not too terribly old, but by rears are still alright, apparently when you touch the tie rods, you change the alignment, not sure about that, but I did see the outer tie rod when I worked on the ball joint.

Still, i'm confused about the nylon locknut and hope to succeed this time, I heard you dont' press it in but you can use a jack to push the ball joint in, and then instsall the nut and you shoudl be good, I might have crossthreaded the nut is what the parts store people believed.


Oh Lord! I surely hope you let a competent mechanic check your work before you endanger your and others' lives. Do you have any idea how to bleed brakes?
 
Originally Posted By: mk378
You've been driving with the nut only partway on?


It sounds like you have been driving with the nut loose. This is a huge safety risk. The shank and the hole it fits into have to be clean, and the nut torqued at least to spec, if not more. If you have driven it with the nut loose, the tapered hole has been damaged, and a new ball joint may not seat properly. This can cause leverage to be created, and can snap the shank of the ball joint, causing a wreck.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: engineer20
look on toyotanation for the pictures, i was banned here, i wanted to post here but couldn't

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/104-5t...working-12.html

FYI, you need to be a member of toyotanation to be able to view them.


Better off you dont have access.. its 20 pages long...

OP, seriously.. from reading all you have written on toyotanation.. bring it to a qualified mechanic and let them fix it. It would save you alot of time. Not sure you have a job, but you do seem to have alot of time to post on various forms. I am not qualified to do complex work on my car, and thus bring it somewhere. I spend my time working, so I can pay someone to do the work thats too complex for me.
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
If you did all of that that you are saying, good for you. That experience alone should be now enough for you to do the rest of the repairs.

Yeah seriously, kudos to OP. I understand he's trying to save money by doing repairs on his own. Hey, who wouldn't? BUT, some things are best left to the pros. What I gathered from his giant wall-of-text is that he's been driving around with a leaky caliper and loose ball joint. These are critical safety issues that not only endanger OP's life but everyone else on the road around him. So for the sake of safety, have a pro fix your car. Like Dirty Harry said, "A man's got to know his limitations."
 
"Engineer20" is gone. Either he's been banned or he's scrammed.

EDIT: He's back! The PM I sent him (in reply to his) back on Dec 28th -- which went unread for over a month -- has finally been read by him.

I now think he got sent to Siberia for a while.
 
He's not saving money. He's buying the same part two or three times. He's ripping off parts suppliers claiming warranty on good parts that he destroyed with improper installation. He's spending weeks attempting to do stuff himself that a competent garage could do in a couple of hours. He's "doctor shopping" all over town looking for "free inspections" and second opinions. He should find one mechanic with a good reputation and stay with them.
 
I don't think he's doing anything at all, except trolling this board (and apparently others as well). I came to that conclusion about two months ago.

But that's just me.
 
I actually think E20 is for real. As long as he keeps all his posts into one thread, what's the big deal? If you click on this you know what you're getting yourself into.

Trolling = making things up for attention. I don't think E20 is doing this. But hey, I could be wrong.
 
i redid the ball joint, will use the ball joint i originally put on and return it ((defect), i got another moog ball joint, since i messed up the nut on the first one, it locked but wasn't able to go on completely since my ball joint wasn't straight, i used a dremmel to cut part of the nut, enough to be able to llosen it, popped the old ball joint out, and put the new one in, supported by a jack and was able to tighten that locknut fully, then reassembled everything else and now the car drives like normal again, though i'm concerned about the control arm as i saw the "boot" or the rubbery black part looked bent and not in very good condition, though it wasn't leaking

I'm not troliing, i can provide pictures, can't believe people are still saying i'm trolling. i'm learning, and there's quite a learning curve, but now, i think my repair skills are getting better. and i changed the oil on the taurus while i was at it with black pennzoil or pennzoil ultra platinum.
 
quote:
He's not saving money. He's buying the same part two or three times. He's ripping off parts suppliers claiming warranty on good parts that he destroyed with improper installation. He's spending weeks attempting to do stuff himself that a competent garage could do in a couple of hours. He's "doctor shopping" all over town looking for "free inspections" and second opinions. He should find one mechanic with a good reputation and stay with them.


end quote

I agree with you, you're right on the money, but this time, I finally was able to successfully do the ball joint, I had to do many of my jobs twice, like on the caliper for the taurus, but now it's not leaking (i used the old brake hose, the new one didn't fit!) but I defected out the bad parts that went bad due to improper installation, the nut is on tight now and i'm all set, but i'm worried in that time, driving with the bad nut/ball joint messed up the control arm, am i due for that? idk, i guess I'll take it to belle tire for them to give me a free inspection, then spend the next month diying it or finangling with it, figuring it out
 
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